Parent Trap
by kageNOhikari8
Summary: A SasuSaku fic inspired by the movie 'Parent Trap'. My first attempt in AU. Revise starting March 19, 2008
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OCs present in this fic and I own them.  
**_

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We were born in a world where not everything is what we usually predict it to be. No matter how hard we look or how persistent we can get, perfection could only exist in the mind. However of that fact, it could not be enough to discourage us from living the 'perfect life' we always wished. In this broken world, we always sought the impossible. Who could blame us? These shards of broken dreams had become a boring sight – we wanted to know what an unbroken mirror looked like. 

We were persistent. We were blind. Many wanted to take off the blindfold that severed our sense of sight but we wandered to far to let them touch us. Now we had suffered the consequences. We had fallen into the pit of despair our friends desperately tried to warn us. Why did we pay them no heed?

The one we thought was a 'perfect plan' was actually filled with flaws… flaws that we didn't care about… flaws that became the reason of our downfall.

Now what will we do? They are already here and now you choose to leave them? Have you no mercy?

Nevertheless, there was never a plan B between you and me. Only thing left is…

… divorce

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It was one of those rainy cliché nights. Silence surrounded the once merry household as the main door clicked to a close. She knew that she could never see him again. Now she was left broken to contemplate and mourn while taking care of the sleeping infant in her arms.

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_wee finally got it out of my head! Read and Review if you will.. XD_

_BTW, this is AU. _


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them.**_

* * *

_Twelve years had been a long time, hadn't it?_

The train skidded to a halt symbolizing our arrival at the Roma Termini.

"Rome! We're finally here!" my seatmate gleed when our arrival was announced - in Italian, I might add - over the speaker phones of the train. My seatmate's contained anxiousness was released and he started jumping up and down inside our sleeper cabin.

"Will you cut that out?" It had taken all my self-control not to punch him. I managed to grab the hem of his shirt and pull him back to his seat. Why did Sir Iruka assign us in the same cabin?

"Oh come on, Uchiha," he began to whine "What does it take to get that stick off--"

I didn't gave him a chance to finish that sentence since I whacked the back of his head.

"What was that for?" He recoiled, rubbing his sore neck.

I only rolled my eyes at him.

"Okay, kids, grab your stuff and meet the rest outside." Sir Iruka announced from the hall just outside our slightly ajar door. "Our ride is here."

"You hear that?" he turned to me, all excitement back. "Italy here we come!"

"We ARE in Italy." I corrected him as I grabbed our luggage.

"Oh.. right."

I threw him his luggage and we both prepared to vacate the cabin.

Everyone already lined up when we left the train. I would like to say that it was not my fault for making us the last people on-board. Stealthily we searched our line and inserted ourselves according to our height. I was the fifth person in line while my seatmate was the tenth.

"Roll call", Sir Iruka walked up in front of our line holding a clipboard and a pen.

We stood upright and waited our names to be mention.

"Nara Taro."

"Present!" he yelled, not being able to contain the overflowing joy. This was my seatmate, also a basketball teammate and friend.

Yes, folks, I belong in our elementary basketball varsity team.

"Uchiha Hikaru."

"Present." I lazily answered with a slight wave of hand. You got that right, my name's Uchiha Hikaru. The son of an Uchiha – one of the richest Real Estate owners around the world – and currently living in France with my dad who is the last remaining Uchiha; other than me, of course.

"Psst. Hikaru." A soft voice called from behind me.

I turned to find Tsuki Hyuuga, a weak little crybaby but son of one of my father's close-tied clients. "What?" I sighed.

"Aren't you excited?"

"Hn?" so he noticed my lack of interest in our school out-of-country trip. I briefly scanned my sorrounding schoolmates to find someone who shares the same look of uninterest but found none. Everyone was practically jumping in excitement. I looked back to Tsuki and found him patiently waiting for my response.

I shrugged, saying "I've already been to Rome with my father. We were here four years ago on a business trip of my dad's."

"Oh." He nodded in understanding. "So why did you come? This isn't compulsory, you know."

"I know. I just want to come." Besides, Tarou pleaded that I should come but I would never admit that to anyone. They would think I am his nanny or something. Annoying brat…

"Okay," our teacher began, "before we continue, let me just remind you that this trip is for educational purposes. All expenses are paid by Fireleaf Academy which is currently under the rule of Principal Sarutobi. It had been a tradition that during a specific time of each year, classes from a level will be assign to visit a particular place outside our homeland, France. In relation to that, we, the faculty of the sixth grade, decided to visit Rome, Italy. Be sure to be nice and not shame our school's honor."

"Yes, Sir." We all said in unison. Strict formality… how robotic.

The whole class of sixth graders, the others, and mine climbed into our respective busses. When the teachers were sure that no one was behind, they signalled the drivers and one by one the bus left from the station to discover the beautiful city of Rome.

I sat next to Taro but despite his annoyance, I enjoyed his company… although there were times I ask myself why I enjoy it like earlier in the train.

The travel was not that long, only a few miles away. To keep myself away from boredom and Taro's constant yapping, I got myself busy watching the cars passing by. Thank God that I got the window seat first.

I somehow enjoyed eyeing different passengers from different vehicles. Some of them were Italians while some were foreigners like us. There was this one time in traffic when I placed my focus on a black limousine beside our bus. It had tainted windows so I could not see who was in the passenger seat.

Lucky bastard, I snickered.

I leaned toward the window to get a better look of the driver instead, since his window was open. For a brief moment, our eyes met and he suddenly narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. I felt a tinge of panic. What was his problem? Just then, the traffic light turned green and the bus started to move. It was a good thing he was out of my sight. Strange person.

After a few minutes we finally arrived at the centre of Rome and as expected, everyone was ecstatic and started to glue themselves to the windows. Even Taro shoved my body so that he could get a better look outside.

We passed sites that were familiar to me since I had been here before. Honestly, I slowly understood why my fellow schoolmates were excited to see Rome. The city was beautiful. The sight, the sound… everything. Gosh, I missed this place! The first building we stopped at was the hotel where our room reservations were. We had to unpack first before we continue our trip since we were going to stay here for a month. All of us were lead to the receiving area where we had to wait for our room assignment.

"Those who want to go the comfort room, you may do so." I heard one of the teachers announced and so I took the oppurtunity to put myself at ease. I made sure no one was following me and took the farthest comfort room there was in the hotel. It seemed strange going with someone. I finally found my destination and prayed that no one was present at the near end urinal or else I would be force to use the far end. I never liked using the middle urinals. To my dismay, someone was using at the near end. I could not see him clearly because he was of my height. Darn kid. I walked to the far end and unzipped my pants to release the burden I was carrying during the trip.

Then the door opened. I could not see who it was. "Kaoru? Hurry up." His voice was somewhat gruff like someone who was much older than I was… or even my father. He was probably referring to the kid who stole my favorite spot.

"Yes, maestro." I heard a boy's voice answer. Maestro? I leaned back a bit to get a better view but all I saw was a blur of a color before hearing the clicking of the comfort room door. Was that pink? I shrugged it off.

I quickly finished my business and went back to my class. Everyone was already back and I could hear Sir Iruka shouting the room assignment for each student.

"Uchiha Hikaru." He called me.

I went up to him and he handed me a key that was attached to a rectangular wooden keychain with the number 310.

"Fortunate for you, you have no room mate whatsoever because this room only have one bed."

It took me a lot of self-control not to squeel in joy.

"But you have to promise to behave, okay?"

"YES SIR!" my grin was ear to ear. Alone in a room… yes!

Sir Iruka did not miss my look of pure celebration. He sighed then turned back to the class.

"That's it. Leave your things here and get back to the bus. I'll have the hotel bring your luggage up to your room."

"Where are we going first, sir?" Tsuki asked.

The adviser patted his head. "To the national museum." 

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_I know. Aren't their names too Japanese than French? Who cares. This IS my story... and the europeans can complain all they want! bwahaha.. yeah yeah. I know. All of these have been rewritten for the benefit of my pride (useless pride). Some are retained while some are obviously changed. Enjoy the revised version._


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them.**_

* * *

_I see that you're all grown up._

Beautiful. That was the first word that came from my mouth when I set sight on the city of Roma, Italia. Or in English, Rome, Italy. It didn't take us – my maestro and me – long before we arrived in this beautiful foreign country from my hometown which is Santa Clara, California. Too bad mom couldn't come here. She and auntie had an urgent transaction needed to take care of. You see, mom and her best friend ran a Fruit Farm. I understood her decision since we're not that rich and she needed to pull this through for our future. The reason why I could afford coming here in Italy was my sponsor.

"Are you ready for your performance?" Maestro snapped me from my thoughts.

I slowly turned to him, "Uh… kinda." I was trying my best to sound confident but all failed. My voice sound croaked and my hands were shaking at my side. Instinctly, my left hand clenched tighter the pink bonnet mom gave me as good luck.

Maestro saw through me but decided to just ruffle my black hair. I slid out of his grasp until I reached my end in the limousine we were riding. I was so happy having him as my piano teacher. Without him, I would never reach fame in other countries or even in my own. I eyed him through my peripheral vision. Maestro Kakashi Hatake. A maestro in playing the piano and like gifted musicians, he was also eccentric. What else would you call a man always wearing a black mask only leaving his head and eyes uncovered? If that was not eccentric, I don't know what it is then!

Maestro was staring straight ahead. I smiled a bit then resumed watching the passing cars from the tainted glass of the limousine's window.

You might be asking why am I in a limousine and why am I in Italia? There reason was I would be performing the piano at the rather famed five-star hotel named Grand Hotel de la Minerve in this country. My sponsor, Lady Tsunade, provided the limousine and driver. She's a very sweet lady and still looked astonishing in her fifties…I was not exagerrating.

We came to a stop but my interest remained focus outside. I had not notice the driver, Elliot Malifer, glancing back and forth at me until my maestro asked him of his problem.

"N-Nothing… It is just… I must be a little tired." Mister Elliot reasoned. "Do not worry, sire, we will be arriving at the hotel within thirty minutes."

Maestro seemed satisfied by his answer so he leaned back against the smooth leather. He noticed me casting a worried glance. "Worry about how you will play later on." He reminded.

I frowned but nodded anyway. Not long, the traffic light turned green and soon we arrived at the hotel, I presumed Mister Elliot had taken the short cut because it only took us fifteen minutes. Yes, I had counted.

The hotel was huge and beautiful! I wore my bonnet then Maestro helped me out of the limousine and led me inside the hotel while Mister Elliot would take care of our baggage. Mister Elliot was kind, old and thin but still had the strength of a 30 year old. It must be because of Lady Tsunade's medical services.

The receiving area was beautiful but I was not given time to ogle because nature called and I needed to go to the bathroom. I quickly excused myself from my maestro and left, not realizing the route I took brought me to the farthest bathroom in the hotel.

When I got there, I immediately went to the near end urinal. A second later, I heard the door open but was too busy to check who it was. I could feel him went to the far end urinal. Why would he choose to go there when there are other vacant? Just as I was about to finish, the door opened again.

"Kaoru? Hurry up." It was maestro's voice.

"Yes, maestro." I hurried and left with maestro. "What's up?"

"I want to show you something." He grinned from behind his mask before grabbing my hand and led me to the piano bar. There right in front of the door was an announcement about my performances. I grinned proudly but not being able to surpress the growing nervousness. One of three recitals would be perform at five pm today. It was still noon. "C-Can we go to the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme?" I advised to my grinning maestro. I had always wanted to go there ever since I heard of it in books.

"Of course!" He exclaimed patting my bonnet-covered head. He, too, was proud and nervous at what would happen later this evening. "You know, wearing that would make people think you're a girl."

I just stucked my tongue at him playfully before dragging him back to the limousine. "Let's go before Mister Elliot leaves!"

"Alright. Alright." He said good-humoredly.

I paused to see many people had gathered in the hotel receiving area until now. "What's with the commosion?" I asked my maestro when I caught sight of probably a hundred kids around my age with a number of grown-ups.

"The hotel staff said that a foreign elementary school would be spending one month of their summer here because of a school event or something."

"Oh." One month here… like me. The school must be rich. Just then, I saw three kids staring at one of the hotel post-up posters. It was the one with the sign 'A genius of music… Kaoru Haruno of Santa Clara, California will be having his recital at the piano bar on 5 pm…' I could've sworn I saw one of the kids flinched at the poster. I was a bit offended so I narrowed my eyes at him. "From what school did they come from?"

"I'm not sure." Maestro noticed my reaction. "Come on, let's go." This time, he was the one who dragged me to the museum.

When we got outside the hotel, it was then I realized some important monuments erected just a few steps away like the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Trevi Fountain. What a beautiful sight indeed. We scurried into the limo and Mister Elliot brought us to our destination.

The Palazzo Massimo alle Terme was part of the group of museums called The Museo Nazionale Romano. It was located near the Roma Termini Rail road Station. Although it resembled one of the buildings built during the Renaissance period, this was constructed between 1883 and 1887 by Camillo Pistrucci. The place was inaugurated as a part of the museum in 1995 after its restoration from 1983 to 1998. We had a brief tour of the ground floor where displays of portrait sculpture, enhanced by mosaics, inscriptions and decorative sculptures are shown. From one of the large windows of the building, I saw a group of students lined at one of the entrance. A closer look proved that they were the same group from the hotel. I growled knowing they would only disturb the peace of the place. Nevertheless, maestro told me to continue. Before we went outside, I had a glance of one of the kids walking aimlessly towards a pot. I had a feeling he would knock that over. He was a bit familiar but I couldn't say since his back was facing me.

We took a stroll of the exterior of the place (**A/N:**No more courtyards! Wrong palazzo.) The walk was a bit relaxing and it had been a good idea to wear only a white shirt and boy's pants in a warm day like this.

After a while, maestro excused himself to the bathroom. I decided to wait outside for him.

Strangely, I saw one of the guards come up to me as if I did something wrong. I raise an inquisitive brow at him but he didn't care.

"Brat! Come with me!" He taunted as he tried to grab my arm.

I moved to avoid his grasp. "Excuse me?" What in the world is wrong with him?

"Don't play smart with me, insolent kid." He tried to grab me again but I managed to slid from it and ran to the opposite side forgetting that maestro was in the bathroom.

I did my best to loose the tall skinny guard but he was hot on my trail. We did a sharp turn and found ourselves in the museum. We even managed to knock some people from our way but didn't bother to stop and apologize. He still chased me though. We raced up the stairs and I made a turn in a hall hoping to escape but only saw a reflection of my self and my soon-to-be captor. Damn! Dead end. I turned to face my captor and failed to notice that something was out-of-place.

"Got you!" He jumped on me but I managed to escape by sliding myself under him. He bumped into his reflection and I ran again. Funny, he seemed fat at his reflection.

I made a turn into a hall and made sure that the guard was no longer following me when I hit something hard and fell back to the floor. "Oof!"

I sat up to see the source of my fall and saw a reflection of myself. This palace had too many mirrors.

I eyed this reflection and had a peculiar feeling. Although it was doing exactly what I was doing, there was something wrong. Same hair color and style…oh wait, no bonnet? I patted my head and realized I must have dropped it somewhere. Same height, same clothes… that was then I realized the seal on my reflection's clothing. Both of our eyes widened and we turned to our shirts. Mine said 'Hatake Music Center' while his said 'Fireleaf Elementary'. There was only one way to find out for sure and we were thinking the exact same thing.

I pointed a finger on my so-called 'reflection' and attempted to poke its eye. The reflection did the same since it was a 'reflection' and both of us almost got blind.

"Dang!" I heard him react as we fell back on the ground."You're REAL!"

"Obviously!" I spatted "What are you?"

"I should be asking you that!" he dusted himself and proceeded to stand. His accent held a French tune to it.

I followed suit.

"This is so unbelievable." His change of tone from shocked to ecstatic was not left out by me.

"Hn." I crossed my arms over my chest. He held this mischievous look. "What?"

"Where are you from?" He asked as he circled me. Wow. He's a complete look-a-like.

"California, you?" I faced him as he stopped from behind me.

"France. Have you heard of the story Prince and the Pauper?" He asked out of the blue. He held his chin between his hands – a gesture that obviously meant he had a mischievous plan in mind.

I instantly knew what he wanted to convey. "And you think you're the prince?" I questioned disbelievingly.

"Well, basing from our homeland, mine is classier than yours so yeah." He answered coolly.

I had to refrain myself from punching him.

"So, how about it?" He asked. He knew I already understood what he meant. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Do you know how to play the piano?" I asked with a tinge of annoyance in my voice.

He looked baffled. "Piano? That's a sissy's thing."

I was completely offended. "Then NO since I won't allow a complete amateur to play my three recitals and an all-night performance!"

"Whatever." He shrugged. "Not interested, anyway. I mean, who wants to live a pauper's life?"

I felt furious. "I am not a pauper! We happen to own a Fruit Garden!"

"Isn't that the same as owning a farm, pauper?" He smirked mockingly.

That was it. "Go to hell." I cursed.

"Not if you won't come with me." That sly little… "You dropped your wallet." He said pointing at the black wallet on my feet.

I bend to pick it up and noticed his wallet by his feet. Hn, we had the same style of wallets. "You dropped yours too."

He then picked up his wallet then shoved it in his pocket.

"I hope never to see you again, bastard." I told him as I placed my wallet in my pocket and turned to leave.

"Hn."

What a load of bull that kid was!

I went back outside to see my maestro looking for me.

"Where had you been?" he asked.

"No where." I shrugged.

We went back to the hotel since I still had to practice before performing my first recital in Italy. My maestro left me at the piano bar. He asked the hotel staff to close the bar for two hours for my practices. All nervousness still hadn't left me and my encounter with that walking reflection that shared NO RESEMBLANCE to me made my day worse. I just hope I could pull this off right if not perfect. I needed mom right now… and also dad.

I took out my wallet but it felt thick in my hand. When I opened it, it was loaded with dough. This was not my wallet. Then I remembered the encounter I had with that look-a-like. This must be his. Shit. Then he had mine. I was going to close the wallet and decide to look for him when a picture caught my attention. 

* * *

On the other hand, Uchiha Hikaru had the weirdest experience. On a visit to a Renaissance Palace, he accidentally broke a vase or of sort. The obese guard would not let him go on his way so he ran across the place trying to escape. When he did, he bumped himself into a person who looked almost like him. Same hair, Same face, Same height. Like a twin or something.

Good thing he managed to return to his class without bringing up suspicions from Sir Iruka and the other teachers. They already reached the hotel and he was lying down in his bed.

'Dad would not believe this if I tell him about that walking reflection that shared NO RESEMBLANCE to me.' He thought with a smug.'Ain't that right, ma?' he directed that question above him as if he was talking to someone who already went to heaven. He then whipped out his wallet but realized its lack of contents. He sat up and opened it and saw only two US dollars and a label saying 'Kaoru Haruno'.

'Damn. This might be his. Wait… Kaoru Haruno? Ain't that the name of the musician genius that was going to play tonight? Well, he did say he has to play the piano.'Just when he decided to return the wallet and place it back in his pocket, a picture slid off from one of the hidden patches. It was torned at a side. It landed on the bed, picture facing up at Hikaru. 

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_Revised Edition of Chapter 3! I changed Monterey to Santa Clara because after some research, I heard Monterey is best known for their fish than their fruit. And I gave the hotel a name since I heard that Grand Hotel de la Minerve has a piano bar. Plus, I changed Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne to Palazzo Massimo alle Terme because the latter isn't part of the National Museums of Rome, or so wiki says. It's good to do research for a story. yup yup. The internet is an amazing and vast 'thing'._


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them.**_

* * *

…_no matter how far we run, we always meet…_

What will you do if you were presented with a person whom you have never known throughout the years of your life yet claimed to play an important role in it?

Hikaru Uchiha of Paris, France. The twelve-year-old son of one of the richest Real Estate travelling companies around the globe is a hardheaded brat who always places himself in trouble, accidentally or not. Their small family of two never stays at one place because of the father's businesses. Supposedly, every year they were going to transfer from one country to the other but fate somehow made them stay in Paris for almost four years. He currently studies at Fireleaf Elementary, an all-boys school, as a sixth grader and the main point guard of their basketball varsity.

He inherited his father's looks, black hair and everything, but his father claims Hikaru looks more like his mother… the mother Hikaru never met. One day, while Hikaru is scurrying through his father's old stuff, he finds a torn picture of his mother and decides to keep it in his wallet. The youngest Uchiha has asked his father once about his mother but the father shrugs the issue accompanied by: "Your mother left us one day… and forgot to come back" speech. The young boy somehow knows that 'mother' is a delicate subject and drops it.Hikaru's father was a busy man but promises to bond with his son. So far, he never breaks his promise and Hikaru is glad and proud of that.

Whenever the school held an outing, may it family or not, his father will always come for two reasons: one is because he wants to get closer with his son, and two is because Hikaru asks /forces him but does it anyway because of his parental love. He is always there except for the school's trip to Italy. There is an important and unavoidable meeting on that day but Hikaru understands it. He thinks that maybe he can surprise his father when he returns from the school trip.

Kaoru Haruno of Santa Clara, California. The twelve-year-old son of the fastest leading fruit distribution farm in California is a musically oriented and good mannered student of Kakashi Hatake, an eccentric yet maestro of music. He lives with his mother and goes to Konoha Elementary where he keeps his grades at the top. He is not only a genius in academics but also a genius in piano; who won't be when they have Kakashi as a piano teacher?

Kaoru's mom tells him he looks like his dad but many would disagree. Although he had his dad's hair and eyes, his mom's friends will say he is a male miniature of his mom. He cannot agree because he has never seen his dad before. His mom told him that his dad left one day and forgot to come back. Kaoru decides not to push the topic because of his mother's hurt tone of voice by the mere mention of the word 'father'. Kaoru is still curious though thus, when he finds a torned picture of a man he assumes is his father, he hides it in his wallet.

Kaoru's mom is always proud of his talent and supports him all the way. She is always there at every recital and performance. All except the one he will be performing in Italy. She says she has an unavoidable transaction on that day and Kaoru understands, besides, Kakashi will be accompanying him. He thinks that maybe he can surprise his mother when he returns from his trip.

Two boys who live in different parts of the world and manage lives totally distinct from the other find that they share something in common and neither is aware of it.

Fate decides to let them meet by using Hikaru's clumsiness to cross their paths and they literally bump into each other within the magnificent walls of Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Roma, Italia. Their first meeting does not turn well since Hikaru's mouth seems to spat only foul words and Kaoru is not having the patience to listen. They are shocked, though, that they are reflections of each other, physically, of course. They look alike from top to bottom but neither entertained the thought longer. Kaoru hopes not to meet him again and Hikaru is thinking the same but fate wants to be entertain more.

What will happen when they discover each other's secrets? What does the mere accident of exchanging wallets bring? They will soon find out. 

* * *

The young genius' eyes were wide in shock at the torn picture in the wallet. 'What is the meaning of this?'

"Kaoru." The one so lovingly called as Maestro by said boy entered the room seeming to appear out of nowhere.

Kaoru quickly closed the wallet before turned to greet his maestro. "M-Maestro!"

"Yo." Maestro Kakashi seated himself beside Kaoru while the boy secretly placed the wallet back in this pocket. "How's your practice?"

"F-Fine."

The elder genius rose an eyebrow at his stuttering. "Anxious towards this evening's activity, I see."

Kaoru gave a light chuckle and an awkward scratch of the back of his head. He was a bit disoriented but not about the performance.

"Oh well. Don't let it get to you." Kakashi patted his back. "You only got two hours left."

The boy nodded slowly. "I k-know." The aftershock of a possibility he had in mind left him stunned. He needed to know the truth but he must stay calm since he had to perform tonight and other nights within the month.

"Kaoru, getting all nervous will bring nothing, you know."

This time, Kaoru calmed and in a hushed tone repeated, "I know."

"Good. Now," Kakashi motioned to the piano. "…play."

Kaoru took a deep sigh and positioned his fingers over the keys. He prayed silently for guidance then began to play the Moonlight Sonata. 

* * *

'This is too weird.'

Hikaru was still staring at the torn picture that slipped from the so-called Kaoru Haruno's wallet. It had fallen on his bed earlier but now he was holding it in his hands.

He took a closer examination of the picture to clarify his confusion. 'Just too weird.'

The picture rose up a mystery in his mind and he wanted it solved but how? There was only one way to solve it and he needed to find this Kaoru Haruno. Good thing he remembered the announcement poster pinned on the hotel's bulletin board that said a certain genius by the name Kaoru Haruno was to recite a famous piano piece at the concert hall this 5 pm. With that in mind, he swiftly got off the bed and planned to head towards the hotel's concert hall. He chose to wear a high collar zipped-up jacket so he could hide his face. No one should know where he was going because it would all be too awkward in the end.

He exited his room and went down the hall when he bumped into a living wall that goes by the name Iruka Umino.

"And where do you think you are going, young man?" The teacher asked his favored student with an accusing look.

Hikaru grinned. There was no use lying to this kind of teacher. "To visit a piano recital."

Iruka was dumbfounded. Did he hear right? "A piano recital? I thought you hate the piano?"

"I do." Hikaru answered without wavering. "I am not going there to listen but to return something to a person."

Iruka studied Hikaru's eyes and saw no hint of lie in his intention. Nevertheless, he didn't trust him. "I'll be the one to return it." He offered and extended his hand as a sign that Hikaru should give him the thing he wanted returned.

Hikaru's grin faded. 'Damned annoying teacher.' He had to get away from Iruka but how?

"Sir Iruka?" The voice of what Hikaru recognized as owned by Madame Kurenai Yuuhei called from behind Hikaru.

"Madame Kurenai?" Like a prayer answered, Iruka's attention diverted and Hikaru took this chance to get away. He slid from between the two and ran to the concert hall. 

* * *

It was now five pm. The awaited performance of Kaoru Haruno was soon starting. Audience gathered to watch this young genius. After all, this was not the child's first time performing in a foreign country. Ironically, Kaoru felt this month was going to be a month of firsts.

The recital was about to begin when Hikaru walked in the concert hall, the bottom half of his face covered by the high collar. There were quite a number of people that he found no vacant seat. He finally decided to lean beside the wall of the entrance upon seeing Kaoru walk towards a grand piano centered at the stage.

Kaoru made a bow before the audience before seating himself comfortably by the piano. As a habit, he sighed deeply and made a silent prayer before playing Moonlight Sonata.

Hikaru had to admit that Kaoru was a good pianist despite of his age. He played like a pro.

After skillfully playing the piece, everyone bursted into an applause. Everyone was deeply moved by his talent that they had to do a standing ovation. The overjoyed pianist bowed to thank the audience then left the stage as the curtain closed.

'This is it!'

He followed Kaoru to the backstage while making sure that no one was trailing him. He saw Kaoru took a turn to the right hall. He picked up his pace and made that turn only to be stopped by Kaoru himself.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Hikaru unzipped his jacket to reveal himself. "I did not expect that the two of us shared the same thought."

Kaoru had his arms crossed. His facial expression and tone of voice was dead-pan serious. "In that case, we both had questions we want answered."

"I agree." Hikaru mimicked his seriousness. "But not here."

"Obviously."

Hikaru and Kaoru left the hotel without their guardian's knowledge while exploring the beauty of Italia. They stopped by the Fontana del Nettuno located somewhere at the Piazza Navona, just a few walks from the hotel. Hikaru sat at the steps of the fountain while Kaoru leaned to watch the moon's reflection on the water surface. Both avoided eye contact and remained silent for a few moments.

"We had our wallets exchanged by accident." Kaoru started.

"And I'm guessing we both 'accidentally' saw something private." Hikaru added.

The two finally looked at each other, both held a serious and striken expression.

"I want things clear." Kaoru said.

"So do I." Hikaru agreed and jumped off to stand beside him.

They nodded at each other and immediately understood what had to be done. They took each other's wallets and returned it to the proper owner. The tension was so thick that they could almost suffocate.

The two boys' hearts were pounding loudly in their chests. They took out the torn picture, glanced briefly at each other, and then combined the two picture as if completing a puzzle.

Two pairs of dark onyx eyes widened at the whole picture.

"It can't be." Kaoru muttered.

"But oh, it is." Hikaru stated when he heard Kaoru muttered.

The two torn pictures when combined showed two people, a male and a female, staring lovingly at each other with their hands joined and placed between them. They were sitting on a round table with a labeled wreath behind them saying: 'To the newly weds.'

The newly wed couple was Sasuke Uchiha, Hikaru's dad, and Sakura Haruno, Kaoru's mom, and both were at their teens. This picture only meant one thing: Hikaru and Kaoru were twins.

"That's my dad." Hikaru pointed to the dark haired teen with mesmerizing onyx eyes.

"That's my mom." In turn, Kaoru pointed to the pink haired teen with bright jade eyes.

"Destiny is twisted." Hikaru commented with an amused smirk.

"We're…" Kaoru gulped at the realization. "…twins?"

"Yeah." Hikaru was still swallowing the whole situation.

"Wow." So was Kaoru.

Another moment of awkward silence passed with the two doing nothing but stare at the formed picture in their hands.

"I wonder what dad is like." Kaoru spoke, desperately trying to slice the tension.

"So do I about mom." Just then, Hikaru's face lit up.

Kaoru saw this and began to wonder. "What?"

Hikaru flashed him the largest grin he could muster. The sparkle of mischief obvious in his eyes. "Let's switch."

"What!" Kaoru's jaw dropped.

"Let's switch." Hikaru repeated, handing the combined pictures to Kaoru. "You pretend to be me and go to England while I pretend to be you and go to California! We will spend a day or two with our mom and dad without letting them know we met…"

"… afterwards we give them the truth and they will be forced to unswitch us." Kaoru added.

"Exactly! And when that happens, they'll meet, old fires will spark again and they might get back together." Hikaru explained.

It was a brilliant plan to get their broken family back together but there was one flaw.

"You don't know how to play the piano." Kaoru stated remembering that he once asked Hikaru if he knew how to play the piano.

"No, I don't know how." He honestly answered.

"My maestro is here with me in Roma. If he finds out that I turned from good to bad in playing the piano, he'll get suspicious!" Kaoru almost yelled at the end. Panic was definitely evident in his voice.

"He can hinder the plan, all right." Hikaru thought for a bit. "How long will you be staying here?"

"A month."

"So am I so that serves as no problem." Hikaru shrugged his shoulders. "You just have to teach me."

Kaoru wanted to jump off the bridge. "It took me seven years to master the piano."

"So?"

"Do you honestly think you could master Moonlight Sonata, Fur Elise, Gassenhauer, Appassionata, and other complicated piano pieces in less than a month?" The pianist had second thoughts of the plan. No one can master those pieces in less than a month. NO ONE.

"Sure, why not?" Hikaru was not thinking the same thing.

"We can't pull this off."

Hikaru was taken aback by Kaoru's sudden withdrawal. "Do you know how to play basketball?"

"I'm not athletic." Kaoru crossed his arms.

"Then we're even." Hikaru placed his hands on his hips. "I teach you to play basketball since I am part of the varsity while you teach me to play the piano. That's all."

Hikaru's confidence was so beyond human reach that Kaoru was sure he was an alien.

"Just have faith." Hikaru told him with an annoyed tone. He took the picture he owned – the picture of his and Kaoru's mom – and took out a cell phone. He dialed a few numbers then gave it to Kaoru. "Here. Take this."

Kaoru reluctantly took the phone.

"It will help me communicate with you. That's a spare phone I use to play pranks on people. My real phone is at my room." He then showed his twin a number on the screen. "That's my number. Don't contact me yet. Wait for my message first, okay?"

"You mean we are actually doing this?" Kaoru had this skeptical look on his face.

"We WILL pull this off, Kaoru." He told him.

"I don't even know your name yet." The pianist remembered that his twin never did mention his name.

"Hikaru Uchiha." The so-called strategist smiled at him. "Pleasure to meet you, Kaoru Haruno."

Kaoru was not shocked that Hikaru knew his full name since the hotel's posters already gave it away.

"Let's heed back to the hotel since it's getting dark." The Uchiha twin told the Haruno twin. "Use the main route to the hotel while I use the other one. No one should see us together or our plan will turn to ashes."

Kaoru nodded, feeling a little confident about the plan.

"We need to get rest for tomorrow." Hikaru then patted his twin's back. "We know we both want to be with mom and dad. Let's just talk about this further tomorrow."

"Hn…"

The two went back to the hotel using different routes.

A lot would happen tomorrow and they could only hope everything would turn out fine. Kaoru did believe that miracles do happen. 

* * *

_Revised Edition of Chapter 4! I noticed that this chapter was long and all they did was talk. v.v Oh well... I'll try to make it more exciting in the next chapter. This is the last revise. The next would be the true update._


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them.**_

* * *

_Do you think they'll succeed?_

Hikaru awoke at the soft sound of a piano playing. Everything was fuzzy at the moment and there was still the left-over darkness one gets when waking up. As his vision cleared, he was greeted with the white ceiling and he remembered he was in a hotel. Soon, everything came back in place. He remembered that he was in Italy with Fireleaf academy and he also remembered the twin he met that he never knew he had.

_'Twin...'_ It seemed almost like a dream. He had been convinced that he was an only child for years and now he had been presented with the opportunity of meeting the mother he never knew together with a brother that happened to his twin. Now, why was Kaoru skeptical about this? Oh right, they were both masters of different fields. Kaoru was a pianist and non-athletic while Hikaru was a basketball player and non-musical-oriented.

_'This would take a lot of hard work if we want to get this done before the month ends.'_ Hikaru emerged from the bleached white sheets of the bed while the piano was still distantly played. _'That must be Kaoru...'_ He concluded but not entirely sure. If he can hear the piano then Kaoru was not playing in the piano bar but somewhere near his room.

"Roll Call!" Iruka announced from behind Hikaru's hotel room door together with a knock. "Breakfast will be served at the restaurant in thirty minutes."

Hikaru's thoughts were interrupted and at the same time, the music of the piano stopped too. He then proceeded to prepare for breakfast.

The students of sixth level in the Fireleaf Academy gathered at the La Cesta Restaurant. The school was able to rent the whole restaurant vicinity so only Fireleaf Academy could be found in the restaurant.

Hikaru entered the restaurant and was greeted by a small round table at the center of the restaurant where food were held and a few ornamental plants. Directly above it hung a glass chandelier that seemed luminescent.

"FOOD!" Taro barged into Hikaru and both boys would have fell flat unto the floor if Hikaru didn't held the railing of the red-carpeted steps.

"Taro!" Hikaru scolded him. "Will you cut that out?"

"But Hikaru," Taro whined "I'm hungry!"

"Well, so am I." Hikaru admitted after the grumbling of his stomach.

The two boys decided to sit at the two-chair table across the stairs - the one where an imitation of a roman door was crafted and a painting of a garden replaces the 'real' view could be found. 

Since it was buffet style, Hikaru let Taro get the food first. While waiting for his friend, he contemplated on a plan to meet up with his twin._'If only I knew where he is right now...'_ The boy knew he could not depend solely on the other's recital schedules to meet him. They had to meet occassionally and that was when Hikaru remembered the cell phone he gave Kaoru and began texting him. 

* * *

"It seems like we cannot use the restaurant because of the foreign school's presence," Maestro Kakashi commented "But the Roof Garden is a rather nice alternative, don't you think Kaoru?"

The two talented musicians shared a table at one of the Hotel's roof gardens. The air, although a bit warm due to the summer season, seemed to calm Kaoru's nerves and the view overlooking the whole Piazza della Minerve was magnificent.

"Yes," Kaoru agreed. "The Roof Garden is a nice alterative." Kaoru was still shaken from last night's revelation. Lost twin? Come on. Plus, the chance to meet his father came only once in a lifetime. Kaoru was only skeptical at the risk he and his twin will undergo. He barely managed to explain to his maestro his sudden disappearance last night.

"May I ask your order, signore?" a waiter neared them.

"Let me see...", Kakashi opened the menu to look for his suited taste.

Kaoru was about to do the same when something - the cell phone Hikaru gave him, to be exact - vibrated in his pants' pocket. Kaoru jumped a bit from the foreign sensation.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi noticed.

"N-Nothing! I-I-I think I have to go to the bath room." Kaoru excused himself and ran off. When he reached the bathroom, Kaoru locked himself in one of the cubicles and opened the text message Hikaru sent. 

* * *

Hikaru was busy eating his food trying to avoid the fact that his seat mate was acting like an uncivilized pig - as if there's a civilized pig in the first place. His phone began to ring and this shocked the twelve-year-old. He took his phone from his pocket and found out that Kaoru was trying to contact him._'Why can't he just reply to the text rather than calling me!'_ he cursed.

"Hu'z zat?" Taro asked with his mouth stuffed with food.

"No one you should care about." Hikaru hissed and excused himself to the bath room. Once he reached that place, he locked himself in one of the cubicles. "Damn you, Kaoru! Why'd you have to call me!" he whispered roughly against the speaker phone trying to be as quiet as possible so that the person who was in the other cubicle - Hikaru knew there was one because it was locked when he tried to open the door - wouldn't hear him.

"It's not my fault! I don't know how to text!" Kaoru replied trying to be as equally quiet. "I barely managed to read your text message without trying to delete it first!"

Hikaru growled in frustration. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the bathroom! I was with my maestro in the roof garden when I received your message!"

"Well?"

"I can't meet you at the Pantheon! My maetro told me we were going to the Pallazo Mazzimo alle Colonne!"

"That place again?"

"No! This is different! This one has courtyards and a chapel."

"Why do I feel like I can hear your voice from the other side of this wall?" Hikaru commented out of the blue. He couldn't hear Kaoru's reply from his phone because he didn't need to. He climbed up the bowl and reached the high edge of the cubicle. "Kaoru?"

And his suspicion was true. When Hikaru tried to peek the other side, he bumped his forehead with his twins. The two let out a suppressed yelp and stared - or for Hikaru, glared - at each other.

"You were there all along?" Hikaru growled.

"I ask you the same thing!" Kaoru countered.

"Come on, let's talk outside." Hikaru exited the cubicle. "We need to plan this out carefully! Especially our timing so that you can teach me piano and I can teach you basketball." 

"Right now? I can't! Maestro is still waiting for me!" Kaoru followed suit. "What will I tell him if it took me long to return?"

"Hikaru?" a foreign voice - familiar, for Hikaru - appeared in the bath room. The twins twisted their heads in the direction of the voice and Hikaru's eyes widened.

"Taro!" 

* * *

_Got busy reading... adult magazine. XD Don't mind me, I'm only human. v.v A real update at last! Let me just say that the site for Grand Hotel de la Minerve and the virtual tour it had was helpful!. It helped my 'descriptive writing skills' although I had never been there._

_Sorry, I just DON'T want Japan to be the venue for 'Parent Trap'. T.T_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them.**_

* * *

_They did manage to trick some people._

_'Busted.'_ Hikaru dreaded this moment but he never thought it could happen soon.

"Hikaru...?" Taro knew what his friend, Hikaru, looked like. He had black hair, black eyes, and a slightly chubby face. He was so certain of that but then, why couldn't he tell the difference between the two people in front of him? Wait a minute. Why do they look a like? It finally dawned on him. "Eh?? You have a walking and talking reflection!"

"Imbécile!" Hikaru smacked him making Taro sit on the tiled floor while clutching the forming bump on his head.

"Nice guess, though." Kaoru muttered before kneeling in front of Taro. "I'm Kaoru Haruno, you are?"

"Hey Hey!" Hikaru warned. "Why are you getting friendly?" Kaoru wasn't paying attention.

"Uh." The Hikaru reflection's attitude shocked Taro a bit. "I'm Taro Nara, Hikaru's classmate. So you aren't a reflection?"

"No." Kaoru laughed good-humoredly while offering his hand to help Taro stand.

The confused boy took the offer. "Then, why--?"

"Long story." Hikaru butted in. "Hold on a second! What's with trying to blow our cover?!" He turned to his twin.

"Not trying to blow our cover," Kaoru corrected. "I'm trying to solidify it."

"Huh?" Solidify? By telling another about it? "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Taro was now more confused than ever.

"Let's not talk about it here." Kaoru decided. "If someone else sees us here then-" Just then, the inevitable happened. The three heard the door creaked like someone's going to enter.

"Kaoru, what took you so long?" It was Maestro Kakashi. "Huh?"

A million excuses ran through Kaoru's head but none of them held sufficient reasoning in getting them out of this. _'Darn! What would maestro think? Will he help us? Or...?'_

"Who's your new friend?"

"Eh?" That was not one of the reactions Kaoru expected from his maestro. He turned around to see only Taro behind him. _'Where's Hikaru?'_

"Oh! Right! I'm Taro." Taro squealed all to sudden. "Uh, Kaoru here," he patted the boy's shoulder ",uh, was helping me look for my... for my..." he desperately scavenge the inside of his pocket for a possible excuse. "... my pen!" He produced a golden fountain pen and showed it in front of Kakashi's and Kaoru's faces.

"Y-Yeah!" Kaoru played along.

"Is that so?" _'I'll buy that.'_

"Sorry if I kept Kaoru's time." Taro apologized sheepishly.

"That's no longer a problem." Kakashi took in the nervous smiles of the children. He, then, observed the bath room surroundings. _'Nothing else is strange.'_ He decided to drop whatever suspicions he had for later investigation. "So, Taro, is it? Mind if you join us for breakfast?"

"Oh! Thanks for the offer, Monsieur," Taro politely declined. "But I have to go back to my class."

"Maestro. Taro is one of the student of that foreign school, remember?" Kaoru explained. "He's really nice."

"Hm." Kakashi patted his student's head and excused themselves.

Taro made sure that the student's and teacher's foot steps were distant before signaling to Hikaru that everything is clear. The boy managed to duck at one of the nearest cubicle by the last minute.

"That was close!" Hikaru exclaimed. "Almost too close!"

"Uhmm... Hikaru?" Oh yeah. There was still some explaining to do. "What was that about?"

"Uh... you see..." Hikaru and Taro walked back to the restaurant. During the walk, Hikaru started explaining to him how he met Kaoru and how the possibility of them being related is relatively high. Taro found it confusing at first but after their meal, they took a stroll to the Pantheon and Hikaru made him understand the 'importance' of the succession of their plan.

"But you know," Hikaru started, his back leaning against one of the columns. "I don't understand what Kaoru meant when he said 'Solidifying our plan' after introducing himself to you."

"Maybe he wants me to help." Taro watched the doves cooing to one another as they peck the crumbs being thrown by passerby's.

Something clicked in Kaoru's head. "Yes! You're right! With you as part of our plan, it won't be hard to distract other people's attention! Plus, Kaoru's maestro already knew who you are! We can use you as an excuse for Kaoru to leave his maestro's side! What a genius plan!"

"That way, it won't be hard to train Kaoru for basketball and you for piano." Taro added.

"Right!" Hikaru ran down the steps. "Come on, Taro! We need to start immediately!"

"Wait a second." Taro followed. "Why can't you just tell Kaoru's maestro about this plan? Maybe he'll help us."

"No. Not yet." Hikaru stopped. "I... We want to know what it feels like to be with each other's parents. Maybe his maestro won't help us. Besides, this chance is almost once in a lifetime!"

Taro actually understood Hikaru's feelings.

"You are going to help us, right?" Hikaru reluctantly asked his friend as if the idea that Taro won't help them was absurd.

Taro was silent for a moment. "Yes, I will." And the two went back to the hotel.

* * *

Kaoru and Kakashi shared a rather quiet breakfast. Kaoru didn't know what topic to talk about and Kakashi didn't seem to mind the thickening silence. After breakfast, Kakashi suggested that they tour the whole Palazza before practice. Kaoru agreed so the two started to roam the busy streets of Italy.

"So, Kaoru, you're not having trouble with your next piece, right?" Kakashi started the conversation during one of their walks to a nearby café.

"N-No. The Fifth Symphony is a piece of cake for me." Kaoru wasn't able to hide the slight nervousness in his tone. _'Why am I always nervous?'_

"You don't sound too confident." Kakashi teased.

The boy gave a short nervous chuckle. "Mayb-be, I'm just a little tired." _'Or maybe I'm just a little worried about the results of this so-called plan.'_

"Maybe we should go back." Kakashi took the lead and Kaoru was silently thankful because it prevented his maestro from seeing his reaction when his - or rather, Hikaru's- cell phone vibrated in his pocket.

* * *

It was an hour past noon. Kaoru was alone in the second roof garden. This was also one of the areas in the hotel he had to play in. Kaoru was sitting by the grand piano as if waiting for somebody. He wasn't waiting for Maestro Kakashi, though. Maestro was busy buying that _book_ they found at one of the stores they passed during their stroll but he managed to persuade the hotel staff to empty the roof garden for one of Kaoru's practices.

"Kaoru!" A harsh whisper. It was Hikaru and with him was Taro. "Gah! Do you know how hard was it to dodge those hotel staff just to get here?"

"Quit your complaining and let's start our training!" Kaoru scolded him. "I still have another recital this evening!"

"Okay. Okay." Hikaru seated beside Kaoru while Taro found a comfortable spot just behind the two. Just when Taro was about to sit, he slipped on his feet after hearing a horrendous sound. _'What was that?'_

"It looks like we have a lot of work to do." Kaoru sighed.

After that rather hard practice, a series of practices followed. Secretly, Kaoru would ask Kakashi to leave him alone during his practices so that he could teach Hikaru piano in secret. At other times, Taro would appear at Kaoru's free days - days when Kaoru had no recitals scheduled - and asked permission from Kakashi if they could play when its actually teaching Kaoru to play basketball.  
Three weeks had passed and they managed to keep suspicions low. Hikaru managed to attend at every one of Fireleaf's excursions and managed to escape discreetly at the middle of these trips to accommodate Kaoru's schedule. On the other hand, Kaoru managed to come up with excuses to escape from Kakashi's grasp with Taro's help. However, due to Kakashi's strictness, Kaoru couldn't escape without a definite reason.  
Day after day, difficulty after difficulty, excuse after excuse, the twins exhaustion wasn't wasted. Since Hikaru was a fast learner, he managed to play three Beethoven compositions beautifully although not perfectly. Kaoru also managed to know the basic of basketball and beat Taro during a one-on-one game although he was not a master compared to Hikaru.  
On the last week, Hikaru managed to perfect the last piece Kaoru had to play. Hikaru pressed that it didn't matter if he couldn't master the other pieces since he'd have plenty of time to practice later on. Kaoru also managed to defeat both Taro and Hikaru during their one-on-one however, he couldn't stay in the court long. He had not have the same stamina as Hikaru and this was the reason why Kaoru wan't athletic.  
But this was the last week and the little flaws they could not polished became unimportant. It was now the day of their parting...

"Everybody, please go to your assigned seats." Iruka announced. They were now back at the Roma Termini.

"Excited?" Taro whispered to his friend's ear.

"Kinda."

Meanwhile, Kakashi was by the roof garden to enjoy his student's third performance in that place and last in Italy. His student was fidgeting in his chair. "Our plane would leave tomorrow at dawn so show these people what you've got. Go on. The piano is waiting."

The boy nodded and went to the stage.

The train at Roma Termini gave a loud honk as a sign that it's about to leave.

The boy who longed to see his father was pressing his forehead against the window while beside him was the best friend of his twin rejoicing over their success. Kaoru was going to London.

As Kakashi enjoyed the performance his student was doing, the boy who longed to see his mother gave a grateful bow to the audience for the applaud he was receiving while wondering if his twin would be doing fine. The boy was also wondering if he would be doing fine since Hikaru was going to California, too.

* * *

_I was bored so I give you a boring chapter. I also wanted the 'Italy arc' to end so I summarized their whole 'practice experience'. Next would be Sakura's side. I didn't update for two days because of abstinence and it'll happen again because of immersion basic orientation seminar. See you on the 26th. _

_As for 'And the Darkness Fled', I'd have it at second priority because of my sudden conversion from GaaOC to GaaMatsu. v.v Don't worry, it will finish._

_Question for all: Is the story boring or not? Answer honestly. :3 Blessed Easter!_


	7. Chapter 7

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them._**

* * *

_I missed you..._

"What's your name?"

"Hikaru Uchiha."

"Where do you live?"

"I lived all over the world. Currently, my father and I are staying at France."

"What do you mean by living all over the world?"

"You see, my Dad is the well-known Sasuke Uchiha. He's known for being head of one of the world's powerful real estate traveling companies so we travel a lot. That's why I grew up in so many places."

"And your mother?"

"I don't have any. Dad claimed that she left and never came back. Figures."

"Who else lives with you?"

"Some people who loyally serves my dad. I don't care who they are though - hey, when will you stop with the questions? I think I've already got your information down." Kaoru's voice was a bit static through the receiver. Well, he is somewhere very far.

"Alright, alright! Just a few more." Hikaru locked his suitcase and transferred the cell phone to his other ear, all the while being as silent as possible. "Where do you currently study?"

"At Fireleaf Academy." Kaoru said with a hint of annoyance in his tone. "Can we do this some other time?"

"And when will that be? In a few minutes I'll be flying off to California! I was the only one 'interviewed' when you were still in Italy!" Seems like someone's a bit nervous. "Why can't you-"

"Kaoru?" Kakashi knocked. "Are you ready? The limo's waiting for us."

"Will be in a while." Hikaru answered trying to suppress his French accent. _'Why is it so hard?'_

"See? Maestro is already calling me, I mean, _you_. Now, I need to go back to the platform or else everyone will leave without me, ciao." And with that, Kaoru hung up.

_'Damn!'_ The boy banged his phone on the bed. Hikaru never thought he'd get this worried and nervous and _scared_. Kaoru was already within Paris while Hikaru is yet to leave for California. He needed to get calm or else this whole thing would mean nothing. He took a deep breath before placing his phone in his pockets (good thing it was a slim phone) and carrying his suit case outside.

The musical duo arrived at Fiumicino International Airport, also called Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, an hour or less from the hotel. They bid Mr. Eliot their goodbye's and thanks, boarded their flight and departed Rome, Italy.

Hikaru watched the clouds float from the window. Although the view was magnificent, he wasn't astonished by it because he had a lot of thoughts disturbing him, plus, he's very nervous.

"What? I'm sure this isn't the first time you've ride a plane." Kakashi tried to ease the boy's nervousness when he noticed his hand was slightly shaking.

"Huh? No. This isn't... It's just that..." Hikaru trailed. _'This is it. I'll finally meet Mom and then...'_

"She'll be happy to see you, Hikaru."

Hikaru nodded, distantly registering what Maestro had said. _'Wait, what did he just call me?'_ Hikaru stared at his sensei with a slightly shocked expression. "What did you.." _'...just called me?'_

"Hmm?" Kakashi raised a brow. "Something wrong, Kaoru?"

"Uh. N-Nothing." _'Maybe I'm just too tired that I'm starting to hear things.'_

* * *

Not long, the plane Kakashi Hatake and Hikaru Uchiha (currently pretending as Kaoru Haruno) were in landed at Palo Alto Airport of Santa Clara County, just a few miles from Santa Clara City. (**A/N:** But I'm not entirely sure. D: ) At first, Hikaru questioned the lack of his mother's presence at the airport but Kakashi answered that his mother was still in business and they'll see each other when they get home. The rest of the trip was silent because of Hikaru's anxiousness. Half an hour later, they finally arrived at the H+Y Fruit Farm. It was found on a vast plain. The place was filled with different types of fruits, some were in green houses while others were in the fields. Hikaru awed at the sight. It was like in paradise. At the middle of the field is a Victorian-styled mansion (although it's not too big but enough for a family to live in).

"Well, we're here." Kakashi announced as they exited the taxi.

"I'm... here." Hikaru croaked, still in awe.

They took the rest of their luggage inside the house. Hikaru took the oppurtunity and laid his eyes all around the spacious building while being careful not to get caught in the act by Maestro Kakashi. Although the Uchiha Mansion was a lot bigger and more spacious, he was still astounded by it since it was the very house his twin and his _mother_ lived in. _'Mother... I want to see you.'_ Just then, they heard a car parked in front of the house and a few sounds of shuffling, a door being opened hastily and finally, a female voice so soothing and warm to the soul.

"Kaoru?"

_'That voice... is it.'_ And before Hikaru could prove it by himself, Kakashi answered his doubts.

"Sakura. Sai."

_'Sai?'_ Hikaru turned to the front door to see his mom engaged in a bear hug with this teacher and a man smiling at him.

"Yo." He greeted and Hikaru confirmed it must be Uncle Sai. He immediately remembered what Kaoru told him about Uncle Sai. Sai was one of their close friends. When their mother was lonely, he offered them a place to stay. Sai was practically a father for Kaoru and they'd been very close. He was a businessman whose hobbies include painting and traveling.

Hikaru gave the man a wide grin. "Uncle Sai!"

Sakura released herself from Kakashi's hold when he heard her son's voice. "Kaoru!" There were tears of joy in her eyes as she scooped her child into her arms. "I missed you so much."

"Me too." Hikaru returned the embrace in full force. "I missed you a lot." _And you don't know how a lot._ He finally met his mother. He took in her sweet cherry scent and the softness of her pink hair. Her complexion was fair and she was so warm that he never wanted to let go.

Sakura pulled back to see her child on the brink of tears. "Hey, hey, you did miss me that much, eh?"

Hikaru wiped his eyes. "Yes. I did." This was the happiest moment of his life. If only her mother knew who he really was... that he's not Kaoru Haruno but Hikaru Uchiha.

"How was Italia, squirt?" Sai rumpled his hair.

"It was great!" Hikaru tried to be enthusiastic with someone he didn't know. He remembered Kaoru telling him he was always happy to see Uncle Sai and he always narrated his travel with the grown man. He also promised to tell him some paintings he saw at Rome's Museum. "You wouldn't believe the art works Rome has!"

"Hm, I'd like to hear your story."

"Let the kid rest first since we just arrived from the airport." Kakashi interrupted.

"You must be really tired." Sakura knelt in front of her son then began stroking his cheek. Her green eyes were serene - _'like how a mother looks at her child.'_

"Not quite. I want to spend time with you, mother." Hikaru was reluctant to rest now that he's with his mother. There's only little time left before he tell her the truth. When he was about to say something else, something shiny caught the peripheral vision of his left eye (the place Sakura stroked his cheek). Hikaru turned his focus unto the beautiful jewelry in his mother's ring finger. "Isn't that..." Hikaru voiced out.

Sakura remembered the ring. "Ah. I wanted to tell you something, Kaoru."

Hikaru was wide eyed when he saw his mother stood beside _Uncle_ Sai and his hand wrapped around her waist. _'What the-?'_

"Sakura..." Kakashi began.

"Let me tell them." Sai insisted. "Kaoru, Kakashi, yesterday, I asked Sakura Haruno to be my wife."

And all hell broke loose. _'This was not part of the plan.'_

* * *

_____I'm back! It took me this long because of live-in-seminars-that-make-me-do-nothing-but-listen hangover... And I've been distracted by Okane ga nai. So what if I'm a yaoi fan? nyahaha..  
If you noticed, SAI IS MAJOR OOC! Weeee! And I passed my second semester! THANK GOD HALLELUJAH! _

_I won't be updating too soon, though. My father took away the monitor our computer because the monitor of his burned out and he needed to burn some CDs. D: The torture of having to wake up in the middle of the night just to use his computer in secret! I hope I can get the computer back though. T.T_


	8. Chapter 8

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them._**

* * *

_It feels good to see you again..._

"What took you so long?" Taro questioned the twin of his best friend as soon as he came back from the bath room. They were now at the Gare de Lyon platform of 12th arrondissement, one of Paris' largest districts. The Nara boy crossed his arms around his chest and gave a pout.

"Ahaha..." Kaoru began sheepishly then whispered so that only the two of them could hear. "Hikaru called me and I had to answer because the vibrating won't stop."

"Eh? Then why don't you just place it in silent mode?" Taro suggested as they walked to their line.

"Silent Mode? How?"

Taro sweatdropped."Until now you don't know how to properly use a cell phone?"

This caused Kaoru to blush in embarassment. "That's not my fault!"

Taro sighed. "Here, let me do that for you." He asked for Kaoru's phone and switched it into silent mode. Afterwards, he returned it to the boy and saw him hid it in his pocket.

"Thanks." Kaoru said his gratitude. "I owe you a lot. WE owe you a lot. If it weren't for your help, this would never happen."

Taro's pride was fed. He seldom was praised for his hard work and when he was, he took great pride in it. "Heh. It was nothing." He said this as he rubbed the underside of his nose.

The two fell in line with the rest of their class in time for the roll call.

"Okay. Get on the bus so we can take you home." Iruka announced. "Uchiha Hikaru, stay behind."

It took a moment for Kaoru Haruno to register that it was him Sir Iruka was referring to. "Eh??"

"W-Why?" Taro was now a little panicked. _'Does Sir Iruka know?'_

"Your father, Sasuke Uchiha, called and said he'll personally pick you up." It was obvious on Iruka's expression that he didn't like the idea of leaving Hikaru in the Gare de Lyon alone but he knew he couldn't deny the great Sasuke's request.. "He said he'll be here in five minutes."

Kaoru suddenly became ecstatic. _'Father? Picking me up? Wow!'_

"Lucky." Taro whispered to his ear with a light elbow on the side. Although it was a whisper, Kaoru could tell the slight nervousness on Taro's voice.

"Don't worry, it'll end up okay." Kaoru assured him.

The whole class except for Kaoru mounted on their respective busses. He waved at Taro after seeing his twin's best friend wave at him first. _'And now starts here.'_

Each passing minute was like a passing hour. Kaoru grew anxious more and more and just when he couldn't take it any longer, a Nissan Skyline GT-R pulled up in front of him. At first, he didn't give any special attention to it until someone only in pictures Kaoru saw came out from the car.

"Yo!" the person called.

_'It can' be.'_ "Dad!" Kaoru ran towards him and Sasuke scooped up his child and they were both locked in a great bear hug.

"How are you?" Sasuke placed his child back on the ground and ruffled his hair.

"Fine. Fine." Kaoru answered enthusiastically. He really did look like the one in the picture... only a bit older. He was handsome, had black onyx eyes, fair white skin and a chiseled body. His smile also rivaled that of a greek god. "Why'd you decide to pick me up?"

"Hmmm... I'm thinking we should spend Father-son bonding together today since it's my day off." Sasuke took Kaoru's luggage.

"Really? Sweet!" Kaoru watched his father place the luggage at the trunk of the car then went to the driver's seat and told the driver some instructions. Suddenly, the car took off without them in it.

"Dad?"

"I'm telling the driver to go home first." Sasuke explained. "Since it's still 10:00 am, You and I are gonna walk home so we can spend a lot of time together."

Kaoru was delighted. First day in Paris and he's already spending it with his father. His _real_ father. Hikaru always said that Sasuke was always busy and that he seldom spend time with him. This was just one lucky day.

Father and son began walking from the platform to their home. The first place they passed was the Parc de Bercy. It was a park located between the River Seine and the railways attached to Gare de Lyon and Gare de Bercy. They watched the river together while enjoying a cone of ice cream they bought from an ice cream vendor. Paris had a lot of people and this district particularly inhabited 138,000 and more residents. Sasuke only listened to his son's experiences in Italy while Kaoru tried his best not to slip and remembered that he was pretending to be Hikaru.

An hour later, the two decided to visit the Marche d' Aligre, an open-air market that opens at 8 am to 1 pm during Tuesdays to Sundays and 1 pm to 4 pm during Tuesdays to Saturdays. Since it was 12:00 noon on a Thursday, they took the oppurtunity. It was not a long walk from the park, in fact, it was just up ahead. They bought a few stuff like new clothes and some trinkets. The place had a lot of North African influence and some food shops too plus things where way affordable. Sasuke was not more of a shopper, only Hikaru was. The problem is, Kaoru was also not more of a shopper but Hikaru told him that his twin liked to buy 'cool' stuff so he just bought things he thought was cool and hoped that he got Hikaru's taste in things and that his father won't think weird of him.

After buying all they needed and wanted, they rode a metro and was suppose to head home when they spotted the Le Train bleu along Rue van Gogh and decided to eat there for a while. They could've eaten when they were still at the market but it was already quarter to one and the market was going to close. The ornamental display of the restaurant never ceased to capture Kaoru's eyes. He heard this place from Hikaru before but he never actually thought that this place was really beautiful. Sasuke ordered for them and the food was excellent although its names were completely lost by Kaoru who didn't quite understand french yet. Hikaru only taught him the basics while Taro taught him some complicated ones during the tran trip.

It was now mid-afternoon and the two had to go home because of their luggage. They lived at Boulevard Diderot, just across the Hotel Palym and Sasuke's work place. It was reachable by foot so they decided to walk and tried to stay awar of the dog poop (because french love to keep dogs and ignores to clean up after them). When they reached the boulevard, Kaoru could see his father's building right across the street of their house or rather mansion. The office building was ten-feet high and it was all owned by the Uchiha Real Estate Industry. Their own house was also big and spacious. _'More spacious than at home!'_ Kaoru remarked.

Sasuke propped the bags by the living room floor and began cranking his neck muscles. "It seems that Lucio had arrived before us but it can only be expected." He could tell this by the smell of spicy miso from the kitchen.

_'Lucio.'_ Kaoru remembered Kaoru saying something about a man who Sasuke favored the most - Lucio. He always cooked Sasuke's favorite meal: Spicy Miso, everytime he returned home.

"Good afternoon, Sir." Lucio emerged from the kitchen, a hand towel hanged at his right shoulder and his accent more english than french. "I'm guessing you already had eaten?"

"We had." Sasuke answered. "But I'll still take that miso you're cooking."

Kaoru also remembered that his father would always eat the miso Lucio prepared for him.

Kaoru joined his father at the dining room and tasted also one of Hikaru's favorites. Although Kaoru didn't really like spicy food much, he had to eat this because Hikaru could.

In the middle of their meal, Sasuke's cell phone rang and he had to take it. He left the dinning room then returned five minutes later. "Hikaru, I'm going to the office, wanna come with me?" Sasuke asked his son after gulping down the rest of his miso.

"Sure!" Kaoru answered and followed his dad outside while Lucio gathered their plates and wondered faintly why young master Hikaru only ate a small amount of his favorite meal.

* * *

Sasuke's office was located at the tenth floor. They had to use the elevator and Kaoru took this oppurtunity to ask why his father was in the office during his day off.

"Something came up." Sasuke gazed apologetically at his son. "Don't worry, this will be quick."

Kaoru nodded.

When they reached the top floor, Sasuke swiftly glided towards his office and Kaoru had to pick up his pace to follow him. They reached his office and he opened the doors none to gently. He was immediately greeted by a blonde man's scowling face and a few documents in his right hand.

"You need to take a look at this." the blonde gave the papers to Sasuke.

Kaoru thought the man was too familiar then he remembered Hikaru showing him a photo of the same blonde man when they were still in Italy. _'This must be Uncle Naruto Uzumaki, Dad's trusted friend.'_

As if on cue, Naruto noticed Kaoru's presence. "Hikaru! You're back!"

Kaoru grinned cheekily as Naruto went near him and gave him a high five. "How's the school trip, buddy?" He kneeled so he can be at eye-level with Hikaru (with someone he thinks is Hikaru).

"It was great!" Kaoru answered in the best Hikaru-like way he can.

"So did you find any gorgeous Italian girls?" Naruto winked suggestively and Kaoaru remembered one of Hikaru's side comments: _'...he's peverted...'_

"Naruto, stop placing ridiculous thoughts in my child's head." Sasuke's voice was cold and it seemed to pierce through the room like a bullet. _'So this is what Dad is like here...'_

"Aww... Party Pooper." Naruto sticked out his tongue towards Sasuke but Sasuke didn't care because he was too engrossed in reading the documents Naruto gave him. When Naruto remembered this, he stood up. "Hikaru, why don't you go to my office and play there for a while? You do remember where it is, right? It's straight down that hall." And Naruto shoved the boy away.

"Wha-- hey!" Kaoru protested.

Naruto looked him seriously in the eye. "Hikaru, we need to talk to your dad about something important."

Kaoru pouted. "Okay."

Naruto smiled at him and didn't leave his eyes of the boy until a few minutes after he turned to the right hall where his office should be. Then, he closed the doors and locked it tight.

On cue, Kaoru emerged from the hall and stealthily (although there were lots of workers there but their eyes weren't exactly on him) made his way to his father's office. He didn't bother to turn the knob since he knew it was locked but he placed his ear on the door and strained his hearing so that he can catch even the faintest of the noise and the only words he could make out were:

"...Sakura..." _'Mom? They're talking about mom? What about her?'_

"...marry someone...lawyer..." _'Huh?'_

"...divorce papers."

At the last sentence, Kaoru's jaw dropped and somehow connected the dots to a possibility. _'This was not part of the plan.'_

* * *

_Weee! Sasuke is also OC! I don't know cars. I need to revise this chapter to fix location errors someday. I am crazy. I need sleep. :D_


	9. Chapter 9

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them._**

* * *

_All the hard work paid off, ne?_

_'Divorce Papers?'_ There's only one way to find out for sure. Kaoru strained his hearing more.

* * *

"Do they think this is funny?" Sasuke deadpanned. If he was angry, he wasn't showing it from behind his desk.

"Ask them, not me." Naruto sat at the edge of the desk, took the papers from Sasuke's hand and began another run through. "But if this is what they proposed then don't you think they thought we're too desperate?"

"Desperate indeed." Sasuke muttered.

"Too bad they can't force you to agree with their plans." Naruto shrugged. "How can the head of our rival company get you to marry his daughter if you aren't yet divorced with Sakura-" Naruto shut his mouth again. When he mentioned the female's name earlier, he could've sworn Sasuke's gaze turned red with rage.

"Besides," Naruto cleared his throat. "If you want to marry again, you need to contact some lawyers and get _her_ to sign the divorce papers."

"Who said I want to marry again?" Sasuke's voice was a bit too loud for Naruto's liking but the blonde was also shocked from the underlying message Sasuke's sentence had. "Do they think we're that desperate for them not to steal our stocks that they'll make me marry some bitch?"

"I believe her name is Karin of the Otto Insurance Corporation." Another voice entered. "So the news is true?" A man with his hair tied up in a pony tail entered the room. "To be included in this meeting, how troublesome."

"There's nothing to meet about, Shikamaru." Sasuke rubbed his temples. "Discard those papers immediately, Naruto."

"Aren't you too hasty, Uchiha?"

"Neji Hyuuga." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at their fourth companion. He was the tallest of them, had long hair and pale white eyes. "What gives you the right to call me during my day off and bring all of us here?"

"Didn't Naruto told you?" The man made his way to a seat at the corner of the room. "It's about the stocks and Otto's proposal-"

"Which we are not accepting." Sasuke answered. "And that's final."

"Oh?" Neji arched a thin eyebrow. "But their share is critical and we would loose a lot if they back out." He had a point. Uchiha Real Estate owned Otto Insurance a great deal of money to cover the expenses of repairing one of their destroyed branches in Switzerland. The bad news was they could not pay Otto on the dot and Otto was known for punishing late clients.

Shikamaru mumbled an inaudible 'troublesome'. Way to go, Neji, to corner Sasuke like that.

"All of us sacrificed one or more things for this company." Neji continued. "Is it only fair for you to do the same?"

"Bastard!" Naruto exploded. Sasuke was his best friend and he was always on Sasuke's side (even if it wasn't so obvious). "Sasuke had sacrificed more than you ever-"

"Naruto." Sasuke silenced him. "There's still another way and I'm going to figure it out. Now let me enjoy my time with my son who's waiting for me."

"Don't take this issue lightly, Uchiha." Neji warned. "Plus there's nothing to worry about. I saw your son playing with Nara's nephew so he won't be lonely for a while and since the members of the Board of Directors, except for Orochimaru of Otto, are here, why waste the oppurtunity?"

"Neji's right, Sasuke." Shikamaru agreed. "Orochimaru is obviously underestimating us. We need to study those papers for further details."

Sasuke sighed in defeat. "Alright. To the board room."

* * *

"They're not yet divorced?"

"That's what I heard." Kaoru drank from the straw of his chocolate drink. Just when he was about to hear more of his father and his uncle's conversation, Taro and his uncle arrived. At first he couldn't think of a reason to answer Uncle Shikamaru's question of why he was there but he was spared when Taro asked him to join him for a snack. So here they are at a cafe near Uchiha Real Estate, drinking flavored smoothies.

"Isn't that good news?" Taro rejoiced for him. "That means there's still a chance for them to get back even if they haven't seen each other for twelve years!"

"That's true."

"All they need is a push from you and Hikaru!"

Yes. That's all they needed but why was Kaoru felt like all hope's lost? Kaoru took another sip of his drink.

Taro was oblivious to his friend's sudden depression as he drank merrily from his banana drink. _'Hikaru will celebrate with this kind of information!'_ That reminded him, "How is Hikaru? Had he called?"

"I don't know. I had the phone in silent mode since the train station." Kaoru took the phone from his pocket, glad that he didn't changed clothes since that morning. Taro leaned closer to Kaoru and both boys were shocked at the number of times Hikaru tried to contact his twin.

"Twenty unread messages and fourty missed calls?" Taro read the LCD of the gadget. "What's the meaning of this?"

Kaoru's expression was calm. "He's just being paranoid. He's been like that since we parted ways."

"Oh." Taro sat properly. "Why don't you give him a call?"

"Since it's 4:46 pm here, it must be 1:47 am there." Kaoru calculated. "I'll just give him a miss call so that he'll know I just read his messages." When in reality, he hadn't yet. Kaoru began dialing Hikaru's number and waited to hear the first ring but before he could end the call, Hikaru answered.

"What took you so long, stupide?" Hikaru whispered harshly against the receiver. "Don't hang up yet! Just give me a minute." the boy ordered.

"So?" Taro asked Kaoru after seeing his irritated expression.

"Hikaru is still awake and I think he needs to talk to me." Kaoru explained and waited for Hikaru to return.

"Okay, the coast is clear." Hikaru's voice was a little louder than earlier.

"What were you doing?"

"I was making sure everyone was asleep so that no one would interrupt us. What took you so long to contact me? Hadn't you seen the number of miss calls and text messages I sent?" Hikaru was a bit furious. Well, a bit is quite an understatement but expressions don't much show when one tried to be discreet.

"I was with Dad and the phone was in silent mode."

"Have you read the messages I sent you?"

"No. Not really."

There was shuffling and a few curses said in French.

Kaoru's patience was tested. "It's not my fault that you're being hysteric! And are you under my bed?" He asked this because the signal wasn't too strong.

"Hysteric?" The boy from the other line squealed. "I'm not being hysteric! We are in a MAJOR situation and all you did was IGNORE me! So what if I was under your bed? I'm _you_ when I'm here anyway."

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "How's mom and the others?" The pianist decided to change topic.

"Mom is fine _for now._" Hikaru scowled.

"What do you mean?"

"It's about _Uncle_ Sai."

"Uncle Sai?" Kaoru was glad when he heard that name and forgot to acknowledge the deadly tone of Hikaru's grunt. "How is he? I haven't seen him for a month and I'm beginning to miss him. Ain't he cool? Did you greet him for me?"

"Will you shut up?" Hikaru exploded. "And would you stop being happy about that bastard?"

This angered Kaoru. No one insulted his Uncle, the one who helped him and his mother whenever they were in dire need, the one who acted as a father whenever he needed one. "Don't you dare talk about Uncle Sai that way!"

Taro almost spilled his drink at Kaoru's loud voice. "Shh! Everyone's looking at us!"

Kaoru tried to calm down.

"Heh. If you really like him that much then this would probably be good news for you." Now, Hikaru's voice was hurt and it sounded like he's in the verge of tears. "By the sound of your voice, you would rather have _him_ as your father!"

"Hikaru, what are you talking about?" Kaoru was now confused at his twin's change of reaction.

"Your beloved uncle is engaged to our mother." Hikaru then hung up.

"No way... Uncle Sai would never do that." Kaoru mumbled more to himself since Hikaru hung up on him. He called Hikaru's number again but failed to get a ringing tone. _'That spoiled brat must've turned his phone off.'_

"What's wrong?" Taro asked. "Why were you shouting earlier?"

Kaoru shoved the phone rather roughly into his pocket. "Nothing. Hikaru just said some absurd things." From depressed to furious, Hikaru never ceased to change Kaoru's feelings so quickly. _'Uncle Sai marrying mom? Why? That's impossible... He's only mom's friend.'_ But even to Kaoru's ears, the words seemed fake.

* * *

It was now seven in the morning. Hikaru didn't get any sleep since his outburst with Kaoru and he didn't even attempt turning his phone on again.

"Kaoru? Are you ready?" An unfamiliar voice called out from behind his bed room door. "It's me your Auntie Ino to pick you up to Piano School."

_'Aunt Ino... oh yeah, Mom's best friend and co-partner of this farm: Ino Yamanaka.'_ "I'm just getting dressed, auntie." Hikaru sat up in bed, still in his pajamas.

"Then hurry up! I'll be at the kitchen."

"Why should I hurry up when that Kakashi never arrives early?" He mumbled to himself as he recalled Kaoru's notes about him. _'Kaoru... I should apologize to him soon but not now.'_ He then proceeded to wear Kaoru's clothes and met Aunt Ino at the kitchen.

"Eh? You don't look like you got any sleep last night." Ino noticed the boy's eye bags and slight paleness.

"Hn." Hikaru took one of the sandwiches his mom made for him. "Where's mother?"

"Oh, she's... at the living room with some guests. That's why I'm going to take you to school!" Ino lied.

Hikaru saw through Ino's lie but decided to play through. "Okay."

Ino hurried Hikaru out the door but that didn't stop the boy from peeking into the living room and saw his mother with Sai talking to a person in a business attire. In front of that person was the coffee table where he had his suitcase faced open at him. It seemed he was trying to get some papers.

_'That man looked like a lawyer.'_ Hikaru wasn't entirely sure because Ino had forced him into the car and they went to Hatake Music Center.

* * *

"You only need to contact your husband for the engagement to be final." the man named Asuma Sarutobi told the couple. He was the lawyer Tsunade, Kaoru's financer and Sakura's teacher-who's-like-a-mother, got for them.

"But I don't know where he is." Sakura answered meekly. Sai grabbed Sakura's hand in a comforting hold and she smiled at him to show her unspoken gratitude.

"That's nothing you should worry about. It seemed that Uchiha Real Estate is one of the famous so it would be easy to contact him by monday next week." Asuma confirmed.

"Oh." Sakura should be happy, right? She's finally going to get the divorce she so wanted and marry the guy that would make her happy for the rest of her life. No more tears. No more pain. Then why does her heart clenched in her chest that it hurt so much?

* * *

_Hana Kimi is fun! Romeo+Juliet is too sad and...I want our computer back! T.T  
I also want your reviews because it helps me improve the plots and twists. This is just the first part of the story that's why it's based mostly on Hikaru and Kaoru. T.T  
I want to look for a beta but I'm not patient enough to wait for someone's opinion before I publish the story. XD _


	10. Chapter 10

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them._**

* * *

_How did it come to this?_

A knock on the hard red oak was heard.

"Come in." approved the blonde female who was older than she looked. Majority of her focus was on the papers about her gambling debts that were scattered on her desk.

There was the sound of someone entering the office and making way to the front of the desk.

She didn't bother to look up nor acknowledge the presence.

A sigh. "Old habits die hard, ne?" then a chuckle. "Makes me think how Konoha Financial Institute managed to reach four years of success without bankruptcy."

The familiarity of the voice shocked the blonde that she had to stop all of what she was doing to look up at the man and prove her doubts.

"Long time no see, Tsunade." The white-haired man in his fifties greeted with a large grin.

"Jiraiya..." Tsunade muttered in disbelief.

The man named Jiraiya thought his female best friend would be happy for finally seeing him after a long time of seperation. He did not expect, however, the punch that came flying to his face. Good thing the man dodged it before it could cause severe damage to his body.

"Why you perverted selfish bastard!" Tsunade jumped off her desk to swing another punch that Jiraiya also dodged. He would be stupid to get caught in one of her deadly punches. "Where had you been all this time?!"

"A-Anou...! I can explain." Punch. Dodge.

"Son of a bitch!"

"Whoah! Hey!" Jiraiya managed to achieve a safe distance from the raging Tsunade. "Is this how you treat a friend you haven't met for twelve years?"

"God damn that's right! It HAS been twelve years since you and that pedophile (word to call snake fanatic) suddenly disappeared!" Tsunade punched the wall beside her and a visible fist-sized crater was formed. "Did you know how much time I wasted searching for you two?!"

"Uh..." Jiraiya was not given a chance to answer since Tsunade cut him off by storming back to her desk.

"Six years of fruitless searching!" She continued as she reached her desk and became more furious at the mess on it that she turned the table upside-down. "I only stopped when Grandfather died since **I** was the heir of his company - _this_ company."

"I heard about him-"

"I'm not finished yet!"

The man flinched. _'It would be a good idea to keep my mouth shut for now.'_

The blonde female wrenched her eyes shut from the upcoming tears. "When I was finally forgetting your existence and had the company reach the top, news of two newly founded structures suddenly emerged saying that they compete _my company_ in popularity and power!" A deep breath and with gritted teeth, "I knew by the moment I heard the company names who the heads are." She glared daggers at Jiraiya. "Only you can be head of Icha Icha Publishing and Orochimaru of Otto Insurance."

"Mah, mah." Jiraiya interrupted, trying to lighten the situation. "That's all in the past now. I came here to apologize to you. To make peace. Come on, we've been friends since childhood, please spare me your rage." The man pleaded.

"Heh." Tsunade sneered. "If I didn't know you better you're only here for my help!" She placed her table back to its normal position but leaving the scattered papers and a few of her belongings on the floor. _'I'll have someone to clean this up later.'_ She then sat behind her desk, a sign the he had her attention.

"That may be so." Jiraiya started and took a chair to sit by her desk. "But let me ask how Sakura's been doing."

"She's been doing fine no thanks to Sasuke and Naruto." Tsunade abruptly answered, rage in every word. "By the way, how is the hyperactive blonde idiot?"

"Oh, Naruto's been doing fine." Jiraiya explained proudly. "He's been improving that not even you could believe the achievements he collected. He now owns a share in the company's stocks."

That pretty shocked her. Naruto? _That_ Uzumaki Naruto? The one who would always waste money and had bad luck on anything was now collecting achievements that's related to business? Times are changing. "Have you had any word from Orochimaru and Sasuke?" She decided to ask.

"Honestly, that's exactly why I'm here."

* * *

Weekends had passed and now its monday. Hikaru still hadn't turned his cell phone on so he hadn't heard word from Kaoru and Taro. _'Damn. What's preventing me from contacting them? Pride?'_ Hikaru mocked to himself as he played elegantly on the upturn piano, trying to catch Kaoru's style of playing the instrument.

"That's enough for now." Maestro Kakashi sighed. They were at Hatake Music Center and he was teaching the young boy play a piece that was probably learned by Kaoru in kindergarten but since Hikaru had just started the piano, he had a hard time playing the piece (spending a day and a half to perfect it while Kaoru only need half a day)._ 'Tch. It shocked me that Maestro haven't noticed yet.'_ Hikaru secretly learned and memorized the piece last night by himself (since Kaoru doesn't usually do this), both to distract him from thinking about London and to prevent people from getting suspicious.

"Okay." Hikaru closed the piano and stuffed his things into his bag. _'I haven't even figure out a plan to save mom from the clutches of that gay-looking Sai.'_ Hikaru was glad to spend time with Sakura especially helping her picked grapes from the vineyard, plucked apples from the fruit farm, and de-weeded their own garden. The boy wanted to tell his mother the truth of his identity but someone would always get in the way. When he complained to his mom about her marriage to Sai, she only said that it was unlike for him (because she thought he was Kaoru) to say those things about Sai so he could only shut up and wished them the best. Heh. As if he wanted that man to get a way with his mom. _'I had to find a way...'_

"Ready to go?" Kakashi asked him.

"Hm."

That was weird. Kaoru would never answer anyone in mono-syllabic words. He must've been in a real bad mood. "Something's up, Kaoru?"

"Huh? Oh nothing." He couldn't tell Kakashi. Not yet, anyway. "I'm... I'm just tired." He excused himself and went home.

* * *

Kaoru attempted to dial Hikaru's number again but received the voice record played by the operator whenever the person trying to contact was disconnected or out of coverage area.

"No luck." Kaoru threw the cell phone into the air and caught it. "And it's been almost four days." The boy was sitting by the bench of Fireleaf Academy's Gym. They had basketball practice for the Elementary Summer Games. Since his stamina was weak, he had to take the benc after ten minutes. This shocked the whole team (since Hikaru could last an hour of vigorous exercise) but Kaoru covered this up by saying he didn't slept properly last night which was true. He ended up most of his suppose-to-be sleeping time thinking about California.

The whistle echoed within the four corners of the gym signifying that the second half was over. Taro neared Kaoru and the latter handed the former a bottle of water.

"Nice work." Kaoru praised.

"Thanks." Taro said and began gulping down the contents of the bottle. "You tried calling _him_?" Taro was being careful since they were in public with people who knew Hikaru.

"No. He refused to turn his phone on." Kaoru sighed.

"Okay, everyone. You could go home now. Be back tomorrow at 7:00 am sharp." The Basketball Coach named Rock Lee announced. "And Hikaru, please get some sleep. We need you in the game." He said to Kaoru who only nodded and managed to squeal a 'yes'. Couch Rock Lee was a kind-hearted person whose passion is infinite as well as his stamina. When Kaoru first met him (since Hikaru doesn't have any pictures of his couch), he tried so hard not to laugh at his thick eye brows and bowl-shaped hair cut.

"Ne, Kao- I mean, Hikaru, wanna walk with me?" Taro invited.

"Thanks but Dad promised to pick me up." Kaoru declined.

The whole team left and not long after, the Nissan Skyline GT-R pulled up in front of the gym. Kaoru expected it to be his father was took completely off guard when Lucio emerged from the car.

"Where's Dad?" Kaoru asked. A dreaded feeling in the pit of his stomach. "We were suppose to have lunch together."

"I'm sorry, young master Hikaru, but he can't come because he had an urgent meeting." Lucio explained, trying to convey sympathy in his words. "But the master really dreaded not picking you up, it's just, he can't avoid it."

"I... I understand." This sadden Kaoru. For three days, they had been spending lots of father-and-son moments. Though Sasuke was always busy, he managed to have time for Kaoru. The man claimed that _'Family should be prioritized first'_ and Kaoru could only hold his tongue before he could retort that with _'Then why did Mom left?'_ Now, don't get the boy wrong. For a short amount of time, he liked his father very much and couldn't find a reason for him and his mother to break up. And after finding out they are not yet divorced (he still need to tell this to Hikaru), he really wanted for them to get together but then...

_'Your beloved uncle is engaged to our mother.'_

Those words still troubled him even as he entered the car. Did Uncle Sai know that mom was not yet divorced? If he did then he'll find a way for them to get divorced. That meant he had to contact his dad and that also meant they had to meet! _'Damn! And that Hikaru is acting stubborn! I have to tell him the news NOW.'_

* * *

It was now 3:00 am, five hours after his bed time sleep, correction, _Kaoru's_ bed time sleep. Hikaru couldn't sleep. He felt like he had missed something important - that feeling where your mind was so occupied with things that you don't even know what those things were. _'Did it had something to do with Kaoru?'_ Hikaru didn't know. He decided to go the the kitchen to get a glass of water. On the way, he noticed the lights in the living room were on so he decided to check it out.

"Are you sure you want this?" _'Uncle Sai?'_ Yup, that was definitely his voice. _'What is he doing still here in this nightly hour?'_ Hikaru stealthily went to the living room and saw Sai caressing Sakura's cheek. Hikaru gritted his teeth at the sight.

"Y-Yes, I am." Sakura faltered and Sai noticed.

"Then why are you not happy? Do you still--"

"No!" Sakura answered too quickly and grabbed the front of Sai's black shirt. "I... I want this. I just..." she trailed and set her eyes on anything except the man in front of her. "I'm just not yet ready to see him, that's all."

The man smiled sincerely and nodded his head in understanding. He proceeded to hug the small female to comfort her.

"I know I have to do this." The pink-haired maiden felt like she needed to add something. "But I don't know how to tell Kaoru..."

"We'll take care of that later. I'm sure he'll understand."

_'Huh?'_ What were they talking about? The boy could not possibly go to the kitchen since that meant he had to cross the living room and no, he did NOT want to join them and make it look like they were a 'happy family'. He immediately went up the stairs and hid in its shadows when the couple made their way to the front door.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Sai gave Sakura a peck on her lips.

Sakura nodded and bid her fiancé goodbye. Hikaru then returned to his room before his mother finds out where he was.

* * *

When Kaoru arrived home, he saw his dad in his room packing.

"Dad? Where are you going?" Kaoru sat on his dad's bed beside the suitcase.

"You're here!" Sasuke patted his son's head and kissed his forehead. "Sorry I didn't get to pick you up earlier, Hikaru."

"Nah. That's nothing to worry about." Kaoru brushed it off. "So, where are you going?"

"I have an urgent business trip to Japan." Sasuke was not able to hide the sadness from his voice. "I have to leave tonight."

"Can I come?" _'Why does Dad seemed so sad?'_

Sasuke smiled at his sadly. "I'm sorry, buddy, you can't." He ruffled the child's head. "But I won't be long. It would only be for a day or so."

"Hn." Kaoru didn't seem convinced. He believed there's still something more.

"Why don't you go to your room and play." Sasuke suggested.

"Okay." Kaoru went out the room but was not able to hear his father's words.

"I'm sorry, my sons."

* * *

_Since the revise, my original plans for Chapters 5 to the Last Chapter changed drastically. That's probably the reason why I am **so** into writing that I update almost everyday now. If you think it's fast-paced. Sorry! I had already planned out the number of chapters.  
For being too Japanese in an American and European environment, the reason will be explained in the later chapters.  
6 chapters left. Thank you, Ukeire and smartlikeshikamaru, for always reviewing. That makes me so glad!_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them.**_

* * *

_...destiny enjoys toying us..._

Hikaru woke up after getting less than two hours of sleep. He switched to the digital clock by his bedside table and it read 5:10 am.

"Tch." Hikaru couldn't get any proper sleep. The feeling like something was happening without his knowledge was wracking his thoughts and he didn't know why. He was about to attempt going back to sleep when he heard the sound of a car - _their_ car - leaving.

_'What the-?'_ He ran down out from his room in nothing but pajamas. He first went to his mother's room and saw her bed empty. _'What's the meaning of this?_ e then made his way downstairs and saw Kakashi by the couch, reading a novel.

"Ma-Maestro?" Hikaru said aloud. "What are you doing here in this time? And where is my mom?" The boy went down the stairs with heavy angry steps and went in front of his teacher.

Kakashi lifted his head from the book. "Your mother and your aunt Ino had an impromptu meeting in Japan. She was just told by the phone that they had to leave immediately. She didn't want to wake you up that's why she asked me to stay here until she gets back."

"What?" Hikaru was dumbfounded. _'Mom would never leave without saying anything...'_

"Well, that's what she wanted me to tell you anyway." Kakashi confessed.

"Huh?"

The silver-haired man gave a sigh and leaned against the leather couch. "Ino is with your mom but so is Sai. They're going to Japan to meet your dad and have a divorce."

"What?" Hikaru was now confused. "Divorce? Wh-... Why are you telling me this?"

Kakashi scratched his head and gave the boy a serious look. "I know who you really are: Uchiha Hikaru."

The boy could only open his mouth in shock - like he was caught while he was doing something bad. "H-How...?"

"That's not of importance right now." Kakashi shrugged. "What's important is to tell Kaoru what's going to happen." He then pointed to the landline phone.

"Oh right!" Hikaru was about to dial the number but remembered they had a fight. He hesitated for a moment but quickly shook all the pride off since their and their parents' relationship is at stake here. He quickly dialed the number and prayed that Kaoru would answer the cell phone.

* * *

Kaoru watched his father got into the car and leave for the airport from his bedroom window. It rained lightly but not enough to cancel the flight. However, Sasuke didn't want his son to catch a cold so he told him to stay inside. As the car vanished into the distance, the cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He wiped the tears that he didn't notice form in his eyes before picking up the phone, briefly wondering who it was because the number wasn't registered.

"KAORU!" Hikaru practically screamed in the receiver.

Kaoru winced at the loud voice and hesitantly listened to the other, afraid he might become deaf with Hikaru's screaming. "Hikaru? Finally you called." It wasn't Kaoru's fault that he was not enthused with the call. It's just that it wasn't his day.

"What's wrong with you?! Don't go mocking sarcastic on me!"

"Says the person who refused to turn his phone on for _four_ days," Kaoru commented sarcastically, "So what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Mom and Dad are getting divorced!"

"_What?"_

"You heard me! They are getting divorced! Mom just left for the airport with Aunt Ino and _Sai._ Kaoru, they really _are_ planning to get married." Hikaru's voice became quiet at the last part as if the meaning of the world just sunk in.

Kaoru was quiet. Suddenly, their dream of having their family together crashed like broken glass. Is this really over? But wait! They're still there, weren't they?

As if reading his twin's mind, Hikaru said, "Listen, all we need is to stop Dad from getting to the airport-"

"Too late," Kaoru massaged the bridge of his nose, "Dad _just_ left."

"Then there's no choice but to meet."

"Do you even know where they are going?"

There was a brief pause and some shifting like the phone was passed from one person to another, "Kaoru?"

Kaoru's eyes grew large at the voice. "Maestro Kakashi?"

"Yes, it is me." He sounded smug from the other line then suddenly serious, he continued, "Your parents are going to meet in Japan. We have to get there first if you want to stop them."

"B-But they already left ahead of us…"

"Considering the two of them, they probably took the earliest yet longest flight." Kakashi sighed like he expected it and mumbled something that sounded like 'cowards' and 'romantics'. He also heard Hikaru screaming in the background like he was scolding the Maestro. "You just need to book the fastest flight and we'll se each other in Japan."

At that, the connection was cut and before the boy knew it, he was reaching for his wallet (which contained an amount big enough to feed an orphanage) and dashed outside, neither caring of Lucio's calls nor screeching vehicles.

* * *

Tsunade was left in a wide-eyed state after hearing Jiraiya's story yesterday. If what he's saying is true then all of the three major companies would go down. All her effort in preventing Konoha Financial Institute from bankrupting despite her gambling habits would go to waste. All of Jiraiya's effort in keeping the Icha Icha Publishing clean despite sexual controversies concerning its owner would go to waste. All of Orochimaru's efforts in making Otto Insurance stay on top despite his dark past would go to waste. All Akatsuki needed to do was play their cards right and everything would go downhill for the three powerful business figures.

Tsunade bit the nail of her thumb, it was an old habit to calm herself, '_And they were going to finalize the divorce right now! Even if they're in another country, if they're found out…' _The blonde refused to think anything after that. Just then, the phone rang and she calmed herself to pick it up but prayed, nonetheless, that it wasn't a debt collector.

"Yoh."

* * *

_It's been… A VERY LONG TIME! Suddenly thought of getting this back in track in the middle of the night with assignments (not yet finished) due tomorrow at 7:30 am. 8D  
Anyways, I'm back?  
_

_5 chapters left. My inspiration returned to me!!  
Flashback scene on next chapter. It may take twice as long to update. :D_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is a work by Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I do not earn money making this fanfic so don't steal it and don't use it as if you own it! However, there are OC's present in this fic and I own them.**_

* * *

_I love you._

It was common knowledge in the powerful world of corporate and business to avoid angering one group if they plan to stay alive (literally and metaphorically) in the years to come. That group was Akatsuki, a powerful Japanese mafia that held connections worldwide including underground ones. No one was considered lucky if Akatsuki found interest in their business but neither are they considered lucky if the same group would want to destroy it for petty and selfish reasons.

Akatsuki was formed in Japan by a man whose identity is little to be known. It originally contained 10 members and stood out because of their suits covered in a red cloud design. Not long ago, one of the members broke his ties with the group after killing his co-member. For some miracle, this man managed to escape the clutches of Akatsuki and lived momentarily in peace and hiding. However, he knew that this façade won't last long especially since the company that started from scratch managed to become one of the most powerful in less than three years.

"So, what do you plan to do, Orochi?" Jiraiya asked the man that stood in front of him. They were both discussing the details of Akatsuki's what-might-to-be plan in the rooftop of Otto Insurance Paris Branch. "Akatsuki already had their suspicions and even though you changed your name, Sasuke didn't change his."

The pale man called Orochimaru remained silent. His gaze was locked at the bird's eye view of the world's most beautiful city.

"Where is Sasuke, anyway?"

"Back in Japan to finalize his divorce with Pinky."

"You mean, Sakura."

"I mean, trouble."

Jiraiya sighed. "She's really a nice girl if you give it a shot."

"She's Tsunade's student so there's no need for further examination." Orochimaru moved away from the edge and walked towards the door leading the stairs. "There's also no need to discuss these matters any further."

"I've already told Tsunade about this."

The pale man visibly flinched and paused his grip on the door knob. "And what made you think I need her help or yours for that matter?"

"Because your business is not the only one at stake here," the older man warned, "so we're going to deal with this together because dealing it on our own would make matters worse since Sasuke and Sakura are at the eye of this storm."

"Do whatever you like." And at that, Orochimaru left the other man.

* * *

Kaoru bumped into Taro when he was about to call a taxi to bring him to the airport.

"What?!" Taro screeched inside the taxi cab, "you're going to Japan?!"

"Don't scream it," Kaoru rubbed his ears, "and yes, I am. Hikaru and I will meet there to stop the divorce."

"How are you going to do that? It's not like they already knew who you are."

"We'll find that out when I get there." Kaoru gritted his teeth at the words in impatience. He's already nervous about the big ordeal and Taro's skepticism isn't helping him calm a little.

"All right, all right. I'm sorry." Taro seemed to understand that his best friend's twin was also nervous. "But like, only you? Isn't there a consent or something for kids below eighteen to ride an airplane by themselves?"

"I'll find a way when we get there."

* * *

Kyoto, Japan. The ancient capital located in west-central Honshu, Japan's largest island. This city was once the capital of Japan before the Tokogawa era ended. Currently, it's well known for preserving Japan's history but for two star-crossed lovers, it was also a city of their history.

"I miss this place so much!" Ino exclaimed. They were all at Ino's old home found in a quiet part of the prefecture, near a Buddhist Temple. "It's good to be at home."

"I agree." Sakura exchanged a bright smile with her best friend and fiancé, "Ino, thanks for letting us stay in your home."

"I didn't think you'd still be keeping this place, Beautiful," Sai looked around the place. It wasn't a really big house because Ino just bought it a few months after she became independent but it had enough room to roam around. They were sitting in the living room and drinking herbal tea.

"Keep that up and your lady's going to be jealous." Ino chuckled with a suspicious smile.

Sakura only smiled to herself since she knew that Sai's praises were actually sarcastic insults, although not obvious to other people. She knew this because she had known the guy ever since his antisocial days which were a few years after Sasuke left her. At that thought, the pink-haired beauty felt sullen and nervous. She was going to meet her husband soon and finalize their divorce even though they never saw each other after that rainy day.

"Neh, neh, Sakura, why don't we go for a walk around town?" Ino suggested, sensing her best friend's anxiousness, "That bastard won't be here until two hours."

"No," Sakura answered quietly, "I'll wait here."

Sai began to look worried but Sakura only smiled to reassure him that she wants this. But does she really?

Then, there was a loud rhythmic knock on the door.

"Who could that be?" The three looked at each other before Ino decided to open the door. It couldn't possibly be Sasuke since-

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto bursted through the door, shoving Ino aside and ran up to Sakura for a big hug which, unfortunately for Sakura, wasn't avoided. Somehow, the blonde also managed to roughly shoved Sai aside. '_Same old Naruto.'_ Sakura thought and almost smiled at it.

"Sai." No matter how long it had been that voice also didn't change. It's intonation and accent (a pretty big surprise considering that the owner traveled around the world) was still the same so Sakura was sure the owner didn't change too.

"Sasuke." Sai returned the acknowledgement but with a more polite tone in it. "You're early."

"Blame Naruto." Sasuke rubbed his temples to scare away the incoming migraine. He couldn't believe Naruto tricked him by saying they were going to visit an old friend. He didn't know the old friend was Ino or Sakura for that matter. He wasn't ready to face her yet.

Little did Sasuke know, Sakura wasn't ready to face her legally bound husband too despite the fact that she was the one who arranged this.

"Well, we still have two hours before the lawyers get here…" Ino let Sasuke in and tried to break the forming tension. Damn Naruto and his selfishness. "Why don't we get acquainted?"

"That's a good idea, Ino!" Naruto found himself a seat across Sakura.

"Still hyperactive as ever, dickhead." Sai sighed, feeling nostalgic.

"Still vulgar as ever, sexual offender." Naruto growled.

"If you are still referring to that time you thought I made a move on you-"

"Well, you did!" Naruto had his arms flailing over his head, "what straight person would sling their arm over a guy in the dark where _no one was looking_?"

"At least don't pretend you didn't like it."

"I DID NOT LIKE IT!" He was about to grapple Sai but Sakura got between them.

"Now, now, guys, play nice."

"But Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto, stop acting childish." Sasuke took a seat beside Naruto and for the first time he was really grateful to be sitting across Sai rather than Sakura, his soon-to-be-ex wife.

"Well, then." Ino sat on the head of the small dark wood table. "How's the missus, Naruto?"

"Hinata? She's fine." The male blonde relaxed in his chair, still oblivious of the tension between Sasuke and Sakura, "she's back in France with the kid."

"France? The last time I heard you lived in London."

"Yeah, that was before Sasuke and I got shifted into a new branch. You know, we were always traveling because of our job."

"About that, how'd you break free from Jiraiya and Orochimaru?"

"Ino, you make it sound like Master Jiraiya is a bad guy…"

"Well, I'm pretty sure Orochimaru was."

Sasuke sighed but couldn't disagree since Ino was right. Orochimaru was a bad person basing from his past and the way he mercilessly trained the Uchiha to be the best in the corporate world. However, he was a pretty sentimental guy if one would get to know him but he couldn't just say that since that pedophile was the reason Sasuke left Sakura. '_In order to defeat my brother, I needed his help.'_

"…so after a few ups and downs, Sasuke and I managed to run a business on our own and before you know it, viola." Sasuke didn't realize when Naruto continued his story.

"So that man did you good after all, huh, Sasuke?" Ino remarked but there was a hint of sarcasm in it.

The Uchiha just sneered at her.

Sakura spared a glance or two at Sasuke. She wasn't really paying any attention to Naruto's story since he wanted Sasuke to tell those things to her personally. She had loved this man so much yet he hurt her so much too. It seemed like the only happiness Sasuke gave her was her children. Too bad she could only get half of it because her husband had custody of the other child. How was Hikaru, anyways?

"Hikaru's been doing well."

The pink-haired girl jumped on her seat. Did she just said that last thought out loud? She didn't notice. "O-Oh… is that so? Well, Kaoru's been well too."

"Hm."

And the thick tension was back again.

"I-I heard Kaoru's a pianist prodigy!" This time, Naruto noticed the tension and attempted to break it.

"Yes. Kakashi's been teaching him and he's been excellent." Sakura welcomed Naruto's attempt.

"Sir Kakashi, eh? He teaches piano too? That perverted school teacher…"

This time the female gave a hearty laugh that still sounded beautiful in Sasuke's ears. "Yes, him but don't worry, I watch his sessions with my child."

"You shouldn't encourage that freak with your presence, Sakura-chan…"

"Oh, Naruto."

"Kaoru's also been performing concertos around the globe." Sai added, much to Naruto's and Sasuke's irritation. That meant Sai was close to Sakura and Kaoru. "Where was the last country he went?"

"Oh! It was Italy during the summer. I wanted to come with Kaoru but something came up and I never got to see his performance."

"Italy! My child's school also went there during the summer for a school trip. Hey, Sasuke, are children are currently in the same school, right?"

"So?"

"Really? What coincidence." Ino butted in.

"I agree! They were staying at this classy hotel called…" Naruto vainly tried to remember hotel's name.

"Grand Hotel de la Minerve." Sasuke provided with obvious irritation.

"Yeah, yeah, That!"

"That's funny…" A weird feeling that could not be called dread but was not pure concern fell upon Sakura, "that's also the hotel Kaoru stayed in… "

"Really! My, that is a coincidence. I can't believe the twins were under the same room without their knowledge!" And a laugh of pure amusement erupted from the group except for Sai, Sakura and Sasuke. Somehow, they felt the same weird feeling Sakura first felt.

"Neh, was Kaoru any different when he returned?" Sasuke asked the question the fiancés unconsciously dreaded about.

* * *

_So not really a flashback, meh._

_Thank you for all those who waited for months for this story. My continuous update is dedicated to all of you.  
I never planned in leaving this fiction hanging. I also do not plan to discontinue my other fiction but I will finish this one first because I like it more than the other. Plus I have to revive ADF because it has plot holes and wrong grammars and unpolished sequences._

_Updates might not come fast enough but I will still try. I won't force anyone to review because I'm not a reviewer myself, anyways. 8D  
**Review if you feel I am worthy of it. **_


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